Bethesda, MD—For millions of people who live under the constant threat of Leishmania infection, a new discovery by Brazilian scientists may lead to new breakthroughs, preventing these parasites from taking hold in the body or reducing the severity of infections once they occur. In a new report appearing in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology (http://www.jleukbio.org), scientists show that specific molecules found in the saliva of the sandfly—a small flying insect that is the vector for the parasite—make it possible for Leishmania to evade neutrophils and live within human ...

Polo is possibly the oldest sport, period. The first experience with a mallet, pony and a round object were recorded nearly two thousand years ago. Polo is the sport known to royalty around the world. On Sunday, September 11th over twelve-hundred guests will celebrate the seventh annual Cobra Polo Classic benefiting Ronald McDonald House Charities of Spokane. "It is the most prestigious event in the Inland Northwest," reports Mike Forness, RMHC of Spokane Executive Director. Sky divers, gourmet food and wine, cigar and Dry Fly whiskey tent, safari escape women's ...

The delegates of the Society for Ecological Restoration´s 4th World Conference on Ecological Restoration (SER2011) congratulate the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) for their practical and forward looking Strategic Plan 2011-2020, including Targets 14 and 15 in which the Parties have agreed that by 2020, ecosystems of particular importance to water security, human health, and sustainable livelihoods are restored, and their resilience and contribution to carbon stocks enhanced, through conservation and restoration, including the restoration of at ...

San Francisco, CA – The 2011 Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO of the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF), the largest meeting of ear, nose, and throat doctors in the world, will convene September 11-14, 2011, in San Francisco, CA. Featuring more than 386 scientific research sessions, 468 posters, and several hundred instruction course hours for attendees, the annual meeting is a unique opportunity for journalists from around the world to cover breaking science and medical news. Reporters will have access to the latest research and ...

Bethesda, MD—A new research report published in The FASEB Journal (https://www.fasebj.org) will help ophthalmologists and scientists better understand a rare genetic disease that causes increased susceptibility to blue light, night blindness, and decreased vision called Enhanced S-Cone Syndrome or Goldman-Favre Syndrome. In the report, scientists found that the expression of genes responsible for the healthy renewal of rods and cones in the retina was reduced and that this problem originates in the photoreceptors themselves rather than in the adjacent retinal pigment epithelial ...

A new study shows that donations collected by check boxes on state income tax forms, fees from license plates and revenue from state lottery tickets have raised millions for breast cancer research and prevention programs across the country, according to researchers at Washington University in St. Louis. "We found that revenue-generating breast cancer initiatives can be a successful strategy for states to raise funds, or 'pink ribbon dollars,' for prevention and early detection programs," says Amy A. Eyler, PhD, research associate professor at the Brown School of Social ...

The Carlsbad Department of Development (CDOD) has announced the first annual National Nuclear Fuel Cycle Summit, taking place April 2-5, 2012. The Summit will be hosted by Carlsbad, New Mexico, and will include renowned experts from the various nuclear-related industries across the nation. Panel discussions will provide members of the public and policymakers with valuable insights into and strategies addressing our national nuclear fuel cycle policies, our nation's growing energy needs, nuclear waste management, regulation, and funding. A lively discussion on the highly ...

Scientists from the University of York have played a pivotal role in a discovery which could finally unlock the full potential of waste plant matter to replace oil as a fuel source. Professor Paul Walton and Professor Gideon Davies, of the University's Department of Chemistry, were part of an international team that has found a method to overcome the chemical intractability of cellulose, thus allowing it to be converted efficiently into bioethanol. Working with scientists in Novozymes laboratories at Davis, California, and Bagsvaerd, Denmark, as well as researchers ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have created and tested miniature devices that are implanted in tumors to generate oxygen, boosting the killing power of radiation and chemotherapy. The technology is designed to treat solid tumors that are hypoxic at the center, meaning the core contains low oxygen levels. "This is not good because radiation therapy needs oxygen to be effective," said Babak Ziaie, a Purdue University professor of electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering. "So the hypoxic areas are hard to kill. Pancreatic and cervical cancers ...

Couch Oil and Gas, the Irving, Texas-based Oil and Gas Exploration, Investment and Operations firm ran by Charles Couch is in the midst of hosting a prestigious drilling conference with experts from around the world to talk about obtaining efficiency in radial jet drilling. Experts from Texas, Louisiana, Italy, Sicily, Oman, and Oxy Petroleum's Tech Division have been out in the Andrews oil field where radial jetting has been tested with great efficiency. Today is the third day the large group of drilling experts convened to achieve different ways to obtain maximum ...

BEER-SHEVA, ISRAEL, August 31, 2011 -- Parents who want to improve their child's motivation to complete homework this school year need to change their own attitude and behavior, according to a new study by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers. In the study published in Learning and Individual Differences, BGU researchers found that if parents had a more positive, supportive attitude and communicated the learning value as motivation, rather than focusing on completing an assignment or getting a higher grade, then the child's attitude and motivation would ...

PHILADELPHIA (August 31, 2011) – Scientists from the Monell Center report that approximately one third of patients with unexplained body malodor production test positive for the metabolic disorder trimethylaminuria (TMAU). A definitive diagnosis offers relief to these individuals, as symptoms of TMAU can hinder social and workplace interactions and cause psychological distress. But once the disease is identified, these debilitating symptoms can be ameliorated using changes in diet and other approaches. "Health care professionals must arrive at a correct diagnosis to suggest ...

Golden Riviera Online Casino announced an update to its Free Spins offer. This casino has changed its main game to Riviera Riches, a strategic move as the casino is this game's namesake. Casino staff members and management are eager to see how this move will affect the casino. Emily Alessi said, "We are proud to announce a game that bears our name as our Free Spins game for new players. Riviera Riches carries our theme of sophisticated gambling in the luxury of the Riviera. We are offering newcomers a generous fifty Free Spins on the game, so that they can experience ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Adding a pretreatment step would allow producers to get more ethanol from switchgrass harvested in the fall, according to a Purdue University study. Michael Ladisch, a distinguished professor of agricultural and biological engineering, and Youngmi Kim, a research scientist, compared switchgrass based on growing location, harvest time and whether it was given a pretreatment step. They found that location wasn't important, but the other two factors could significantly increase the amount of ethanol obtained from the feedstock. "Switchgrass harvested ...

Solar or photovoltaic cells represent one of the best possible technologies for providing an absolutely clean and virtually inexhaustible source of energy to power our civilization. However, for this dream to be realized, solar cells need to be made from inexpensive elements using low-cost, less energy-intensive processing chemistry, and they need to efficiently and cost-competitively convert sunlight into electricity. A team of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has now demonstrated two out of three ...

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- It's all about the grandkids! That's what a team led by an Indiana University biologist has learned about promiscuous female birds and why they mate outside their social pair. Many humans find the idea of mating for life a romantic ideal, but in the natural world, non-monogamous relationships may have their benefits. According to new research published online today (Aug. 31) in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, IU postdoctoral research associate Nicole Gerlach and colleagues have uncovered one of the benefits of this promiscuity: more grandkids! ...

From the macro-economic perspective gold will remain on its upward trend as long as there remains uncertainty with respect to the US dollar and Euro. Even the recent chatter about a potential quantitative easing by the Fed was enough to pull the value of gold down a few percentage points off of its record high as a number of institutional investors timidly and temporarily left gold to return to dollar denominated assets. This is the epitome of volatility and is a clear sign of lack of confidence in currencies. The savvy European investor led the procession toward the ...

Women who breast-feed are far more likely to demonstrate a "mama bear" effect — aggressively protecting their infants and themselves — than women who bottle-feed their babies or non-mothers, according to a new study in the September issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. And when breast-feeding women behave aggressively, they register a lower blood pressure than other women, the study found. The results, the researchers say, suggest that breast-feeding can help dampen the body's typical stress response to fear, giving women ...

The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently published in Paleoceanograpy (PA), Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), and Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences (JGR-G). 1. Was ocean acidification responsible for history's greatest extinction? Two hundred and fifty million years ago, the world suffered the greatest recorded extinction of all time. More than 90 percent of marine animals and a majority of terrestrial species disappeared, yet the cause of the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) die-off remains unknown. Various ...

PHILADELPHIA - A sideline visual test effectively detected concussions in collegiate athletes, according to a team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Concussed athletes scored an average of 5.9 seconds slower (worse) than the best baseline scores in healthy controls on the timed test, in which athletes read a series of numbers on cards and are scored on time and accuracy. This quick visual test, easily administered on the playing field, holds promise as a complement to other diagnostic tools for sports-related concussion. ...

Cerebral palsy is a devastating birth injury that results in damage to the brain and central nervous system of an infant or young child. The damage has life-changing effects on the child, their parents, and other loved ones. The emotional and financial burden of having a child born with cerebral palsy can seem overwhelming, especially if the birth injury was the result of the negligence of the doctor, the nurses, or another healthcare professional who was attending the birth. During labor, a baby experiences stress and sometimes experiences distress. A doctor or nurse ...

HOUSTON – (Aug. 31, 2011) – Using a patient's own bone marrow stem cells to treat acute stroke is feasible and safe, according to the results of a ground-breaking Phase I trial at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). The trial was the first ever to harvest an acute stroke patient's own stem cells from the iliac crest of the leg, separate them and inject them back into the patient intravenously. The first patient was enrolled in March 2009 at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center. This research, with additional funding from the National ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Troops overseas often want nothing more than to get back home to loved ones – but the reunion period often can be more emotionally taxing than the deployment. Returning service members are at a greater risk of both depressive symptoms and relationship distress, and research shows the two often go together, says University of Illinois researcher Leanne Knobloch (pronounced kuh-NO-block). That's not a good thing, since someone suffering from depressive symptoms "really needs the support of their romantic partner." In a study published in August in the ...

Only around 30 percent of medical malpractice cases result in a settlement for injured patients in the United States. This means that around 70 percent of these cases are thrown out or dismissed due to insufficient evidence or inadequate patient representation. Because these cases are so difficult to win, most medical malpractice attorneys will only take them on if serious or catastrophic injury has occurred. To evaluate the extent of your injuries, an experienced medical malpractice attorney will require both time and substantial information before progressing with ...